Germ-phobic? Don’t Worry, We’ve Paged Dr. Lodge!

SELF contributing expert Dr. Lodge, M.D., knows a thing or two about cold and flu season--to say the least. Your question this month? "When sick people say, 'I'm not on antibiotics, so I'm not that contagious,' is that true?"

Not necessarily! If it’s truly a bacterial infection and the sickie has been on antibiotics for 48 hours, she’s not contagious. But nowadays doctors often give antibiotics to people with viruses (cold, flu), although the drugs have no effect on their illness or contagion. Besides, you can’t tell by looking at someone what she has–if she seems sick, assume you could catch it. Some illnesses can spread through the air, so do run from the zombie-looking guy on the train! But most wintry bugs are passed via contact, so you can protect yourself by washing your hands and not touching your face–that’s how germs get into your mouth, nose and eyes in the first place.